It’s time for our monthly thread of reader recommendation and discussion, where you tell us what you’re reading and we all buy a heaping ton of books because romance readers. Right? Right.
I’ll start: I’m on a road trip this weekend, so the likelihood of my getting reading done is slim, because while it looks like there will be several hours on the road that might be used for reading, this is unrealistic and I have learned. Oh, have I learned. I will be doing the shoulder-dislocating reach into the back seat to retrieve whatever has fallen down, or pass the charger or battery that is needed, or blot up whatever has spilled.
We do (my husband and I mean — the kids do their own thing with headphones, thank the sweet baby version of all available major and minor deities) listen to audiobooks. Lately our thing is audiobook narrations of people’s memoirs, especially if (a) they narrate it themselves and (b) they’re really funny. We’re nearly done with I Must Say: My Life as a Comedy Genius by Martin Short, which we started during another car trip based on the recommendation of Glen Weldon from Pop Culture Happy Hour. Short reads his own memoir, and he’s terrific, because even read aloud, he has the right balance of hubris and humility. As I said on Twitter, Short knows he’s talented, and he’s not wrong, but he also is talented enough to know how not to hit you repeatedly with it. So we’ll finish that, most likely. And, after much convincing from Jane, I read Written in Red by Anne Bishop on the plane home from Dallas. It was addictive with some fun world building and competence porn but it also had a most Mary Sue-ish (-ique? Mary-Sueique! YES!) heroine.
I still liked it, though, because when the Mary Sue heroine has been abused and neglected, and all these powerful beings fall over themselves to care for her, I kinda dig it. That protection appearing when prior to that she’s had none is satisfying for me, even if she is the most perfectly perfect person who has even been perfectly perfect.
Carrie:
I read The Highwayman ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) on the plane home from RT and it was just the most yummy crack ever. Then I got home and read The Spy Who Came in From the Cold until 2AM and I’m still flipping out about the ending.
Now I’m about to start Invisible 2 ( A | BN | K | G ), and anthology edited by Jim C. Hines about representation in SFF, and then it’s on the to pile of books from RT. I am in a very happy reading place.
Elyse:
I just read the entire Stage Dive series by Kylie Scott in one epic binge. Normally I don’t do NA or 1st person POV, but this series worked for me so well. I think some of it is the found family theme but a lot is the humor. These are funny books. Lead was my favorite ( A | K | G | AB | Au ).
Now I’m reading What a Lady Requires by Ashlyn Macnamara. It started off slow but now it’s gaining momentum.
RedHeadedGirl:
I’m reading The Highwayman by Kerrigan Byrne (which is delightful crack).
And I’m also reading Tiny Pretty Things ( A | BN | K | G | AB | Au ) by Sonia Charaipotra and Dhonielle Clayton (described as Black Swan meets Pretty Little Liars, which, yup).
And Say Yes to the Marquess (finally).
I’m also reading Tiffany Girl ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) by Deanne Gist (who says I’m adorable).
Amanda:
I really have no clue what to read next, haha. I’m about finished with Ripped by Edie Harris. She has a secondary character who is a ginger with a man bun and tattoos and I was begging her on Twitter for his story. Like that’s not even fair!
I think some sort of contemporary erotica or super angsty is up next. I picked up a copy of Taint ( A | K | G | AB | Au ) at the Avon thing at RT and the author was so lovely. Or Remind Me by Ann Marie Walker ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) sounds pretty melodramatic with the whole forbidden second chance romance. I don’t do well with lots of choices!
I’m dreading getting that package I mailed to myself from RT.
So what about you? What are you enjoying or putting aside right now? Whatcha reading?
Shopping note:
After a Whatcha Reading? discussion, Lisa M emailed me to ask if I could link the books mentioned in the comments to the various retailers to make shopping a little easier. I wish I could! But I can drop some retailer links for you right here, so that if you feel like shopping, you can select your preferred retailer. Some of these links are affiliate-enabled, and SBTB receives a percentage commission from purchases made. If you use them, many thanks. If you don’t want to us them, no worries, mate! (And if your preferred retailer isn’t here, let me know and I’ll add it for you if I can!)
I haven’t done as much reading this month. I’ve only read Fairest by Marissa Meyer which I enjoyed, although not as much as the rest of The Lunar Chronicles. I don’t want to spoil anything, but I will say it was an interesting take on the Villain’s backstory.
Other than that, I’m struggling through The Dress Theif since it’s rather dense and has s lot going on. You’ll hear my full thoughts when I review it.
I’m reading The girl with all the gifts (it’s good so far) and watching the Eurovision song contest – that is, I will be watching it tonight. And after that I’ll start on Liberating Lacey.
I’m currently in the middle of “The Girls of Slender Means” (Muriel Spark). Read Sarina Bowen’s new book “The Shameless Hour” and found it slightly underwhelming. Bella was so great in “The Understatement of the Year” (which I went back and reread, and liked even better) so it’s a bit too bad that the author made her life suck so much in the new book — and separated her from the hockey team!
Otherwise, I was on a Terry Pratchett binge. And also read “The Confessions of an English Opium Eater.” Talk about a document of the Regency era that’s a long way from Austen. I found myself alternately amused and irritated by De Quincy’s snobbery and enormous self-regard (he made me think of a quip about someone “needing a cart to carry their ego”.) Very interesting, though.
I’m in the mood to read some westerns, so I’m hoping to start This Gun for Hire by Jo Goodman and the Boots Under Her Bed anthology.
I read my first Nora Roberts this month–Montana Sky. It was a creepy, sexy, fun ride.
Now reading Trust the Focus by Megan Erickson. It’s a M/M romance recommended on the Smart Bitches podcast by Joyfully Jay. Erickson is a good writer and elegantly highlights the lingering prejudice against gay couples. However, the story has so much going on and yet is still not very compelling.
I’ve just read Naomi Novik’s Uprooted (Baba Yaga meets Master of Crows) it was AMAZING. Rapunzel who saves herself? Close female friendship? All the ticks. Apparently she has a series about dragons in the Napoleonic wars, which I am going to try out next.
Before that I read the newest Kit Rocha, which is complete crack. I don’t like tattoo/motorcycle club novels, as a genre, but these really work for me. The world building is getting crazier, but I’m completely along for the ride.
And before that I read the new Penny Reid serial, which is just out as a whole book. It was NA with a billionaire hero, which again I don’t usually like, but I forgave it for the scientist heroine who ACTUALLY SOUNDS LIKE SHE DOES SCIENCE. Like not just experiments but writing up data. I didn’t like the third part as much (there’s less scientific Harlequin Presents maybe). But a smart enjoyable few hours.
@HawktuarysWife I’m planning on reading my first Nora Roberts soon too! I recently bought what I thought was just Vision in White…but it turns out it contains all four books in the Bride Quartet.
Right now I am reading Secrets of a Summer Night by Lisa Kleypas, and I’m wondering why it took me so long to read one of her historicals…enjoying it a lot.
One thing that’s been bugging me in some of the contemporaries I’ve read lately is heroes who refuse to take no for an answer and keep inserting themselves into the heroine’s life over and over and over despite her protests…and then she eventually gives in. But I don’t find that romantic. Respecting what the woman wants is sexy, guys.
I re-read “Lucky’s Lady” by Tami Hoag today (for the like 5th time, at least) whilst procrastinating from final assessment research. I have been buying up on Amazon the last two days, but this is in anticipation on (a) semester end and (b) trip to Canada in 6 weeks 2 days. I also just finished “Sisters of Treason” by Elizabeth Freemantle, which was quite good and about the two Grey sisters that are left during Mary & Elizabeth’s reign (their sister was, of course, Lady Jane Grey…).
Tonight however has been all about Eurovision. More research & procrastination tomorrow though! Might read Julia Quinn’s “Everything & the Moon” which featured as a HaBO (or possible HaBO) a little while ago, which I actually picked up when Julia Quinn came through Melbourne a year or so ago (or more. maybe.) but haven’t read yet! And maybe Linda Howard’s “Shades of Twilight”, which is an old guilty favourite as well.
Finished my RITA challenge review book. Watch this space. Then recuperated with “The Unleashing” by Shelly Laurensston. The crazy train arrived and I got on. Wish I had read it before submitting the review because it would have clarified the difference between complex multi-character storytelling and a cluttered multi-character mess. But I digress. “The Unleashing” was fabulous. Highly recommending!
And just this morning finished JAK as Amanda Quick’s latest, “Garden of Lies”. I am soooooo glad she’s gone back to her traditional style – although the hero does practice exotic rituals learned by a secret brotherhood of monks. He wears glasses (but not because he needs them, of course) and I always find that attractive in romance hero.
Now that my appetite for crazysauce has been whetted I think I’ll be moving on to the Shannon McKenna flavor with “In For The Kill”.
I’ve been in a reading slump. It started with just nothing sounding good but I would just force myself to start a book and I could get into it. This week I think I’ve made it about 25% of the way through Bad for Me by Codi Gary. It’s good so far; I’m just not in a reading mood. I even stopped listening to books at work this week and went with podcasts instead.
Before the slump I continued taking advantage of my free Scribd trial which will end soon but I know I’ll get my money’s worth out of the subscription now. I read Cold Burn of Magic by Jennifer Estep which was good but suffered from some first book in a series issues.
I also got in The Hooker and the Hermit by Penny Reid and L.H. Cosway before it expired. For whatever reason, the name of this book just really turned me off and if it hadn’t been expiring I don’t know when I’d have gotten around to reading it. I enjoyed it quite a bit but actually would have liked more rugby. Rugby has become catnip to me in books. The hero was a little aggressive at first but I came around to liking him. I loved the heroine.
I read Indigo by Beverly Jenkins and really enjoyed it. Hero and heroine work on the underground railroad. I love the history in her books.
I also read The Mistake and really enjoyed it. My opinion of NA may be changing.
Scribd audiobooks I listened to include all but the last two Mercy Thompson books. They have the second to last on audio but I opted to read the last two from my local library’s ebook selection. I also listed to all but the last Alpha and Omega books. I have the last from the library (in hardback) but haven’t started it yet. It seems like most people prefer that series to Mercy Thompson. I think the stories in the Alpha and Omega books are more interesting and complex but, since I listened to the mainly in audio, I enjoyed the Mercy Thompson ones more because I liked their narrator better.
Other Scribd audiobooks I listened to included The Duke and the Lady in Red by Lorraine Heath which I enjoyed. How to Master You Marquis and How to School Your Scoundrel by Juliana Gray were real disappointments for me. Marquis was kind of sweet if you overlook all the craziness and plot holes but Scoundrel I didn’t like the romance and plot-wise the holes were impossible to ignore. I also listened to the Winner’s Curse and Winner’s Crime which were solid but didn’t excite me. His Wicked Reputation by Madeline Hunter was probably my favorite Scribd audiobook this month. I really enjoyed it. Seraphina by Rachel Hartman was interesting. I”m interested in checking out the second book in the series.
I read/listened to several non-Scribd books as well. The Hook-Up was great (this is on Scribd but I had bought it before my Scribd trial). Grave Phantoms had the best romance of the series but the worst paranormal story. Catch a Falling Heiress by Laura Lee Guhrke, A Good Rake is Hard to Find by Manda Collins, A Single Kiss by Grace Burrowes and Hold Me by Susan Mallery were all meh; nothing really bad but nothing that made them stand out. Screwdrivered by Alice Clayton had some laughs but was a disappointment over all. The outlines of the characters were great but they never became more than just preliminary outlines to me. Beyond the Sunrise by Mary Balogh was probably my least favorite read (actually listen to in this case) of the month. The setting was great but the hero was
meh and the heroine was horrible. It was also super repetitive and overlong.
I’m probably going to do some non-romance books next. I’m having lunch with a friend Monday who hates romance (I know! Sometimes you just have to overlook people’s faults). I’m going to try to get Feed by Mira Grant in and Station 11 this weekend. Maybe The Bees if I get on a roll.
I started The Lady Meets Her Match, by Gina Conkle. I love the premise – a Cinderella-retelling where the heroine isn’t particularly interested in the “prince” saving her or even really being in a relationship with him because she wants to be able to take care of herself and not be dependent on a man. However, the hero is kind of a dick, as is the obvious spin-off secondary guy, and I’m not as engrossed as I’d like to be in the story. I haven’t given up on it completely, but I’ve put it aside for the moment for other books.
I’ve nearly finished Hunting Season, by Shelly Laurenston. It’s in the same world as The Unleashing, but on the opposite side of the country with a completely different group of people. I like it, but I don’t like the heroine as much as I did in other book and the “mystery” isn’t particularly developed here. Still, it’s pretty entertaining.
Finally, I’m about a quarter of the way into The Best Kind of Trouble, by Lauren Dane. It’s a second-chance story with a rock star and a librarian. I haven’t gotten very far into it yet, but who could pass that up?
I read two books from Susan Elisabeth Philips’ Chicago Stars series. First no. 7 ‘Natural Born Charmer’ which I loved! It had a funny, snarky heroine, adorable, funny hero and a whole lot of great side charachters. What fun!
After that I downloaded the first book in the series, ‘It Had To Be You’which I hated, hated, HATED with a fiery passion! The heroine was a so called genious who did her best to hide that fact. In fact I doubted her intelligenge constantly and kept wanting to throw my iPad to the wall. The hero wasn’t any better, a bully hacho-hole and I only finished the book because the story, not involving the so called romance, was mildly interesting. After finishing the book I checked the year when the books were written and they had a decade between their publishing dates (1994/2004). Propably that explains alot.
I’ve just discovered audiobooks – thanks to Scribd (I wasn’t sure I could handle listening to books in a language not my native other than in text, but it has turned out fine). So this month I took a pause from romance and listened to David Wellington’s Positive (a post zombie apocalypse sort of rebuilding dystopia) read by Nick Podehl (what an awesome narrator!! and a great apocalyptic tale). And now I’ve moved onto listening to The Golem and The Jinni narrated by George Guidall (not as awesome as Podehl, but quite fitting for this novel’s classical style).
So far I’ve realized find it more captivating and easier to listen to a male narrator than a female, why is that? This means that I have a lot less romance audiobooks to pick from, which may be good because it will give me a chance to read some fiction other than romance that I have had my eye on for a while but haven’t read yet. But I have started and then stopped a few romance audiobooks, that I’ve wanted to “read” with female narrators just because of their higher pitched voices. It annoys me. Maybe I can get used to it if I force myself?
I’ve also just finished my first Carla Kelly (ebook format) – Her Hesitant Heart, which I loved.
Right now I’m looking for something new to read – ebook or paper book – but haven’t decided yet. Oh, the choices!
I’m currently reading House of Leaves. It’s a horror novel that’s really creepy and all kinds of amazing.
I finally read Sweet Disorder by Rose Lerner, thought it was good, especially liked that the characters and setting were more middle class than aristocracy and about politics and publishing a newspaper.
Then I read Jackby by William Ritter, it’s YA but I enjoyed it so much I gave it to my adult daughter, and then my husband and they both enjoyed it so it went to a coworker who is in her 70’s and who is enjoying it, so wide appeal! It’s described as Sherlock Holmes crossed with Dr. Who, it has a paranormal element, that’s where the detective Jackby has special skills, and his Watson is a spunky young woman. Lots of fun.
Am now trying to finish Rutherford Park, think Downtown Abbey just before WWI but with less likable characters. Lovely writing though.
Katrina @ #6: OH GOD YES Naomi Novik made her name with the Temeraire series. I LOVE me some Temeraire. It was described to me as “Patrick O’Brien meets the Dragonriders of Pern”, and yeah, that’s pretty much apt. Laurence and Temeraire are pretty much Jack and Stephen from Master and Commander if Stephen happens to be a dragon. And all the dragon characters are wonderful, especially Iskierka. 😀
As to what I’m reading, I’m currently on a sweep through the various nominees for Best Novel for the Hugos. About to finish Ann Leckie’s Ancillary Sword, although I will have to distract myself because the library just informed me one of my holds just became available: a mystery called Asylum by Jeannette de Beauvoir.
I read Helena Hunting’s Pucked- loved it! LOL funny and sexy
Also loved Penny Reid’s Elements of Chemistry 3 book series- NA loved it too.
Also Tornado by Missy Blue- Asher!! What a guy!
I’ve been in an awful reading slump lately. It seems like nothing I start can hold my interest, so I retreated to The Rake by Mary Jo Putney. I’ve always loved this book and it held up pretty well. Also re-read Bertrice Small’s A Love for All Time. It’s just overflowing with Old Skool crazy.
I decided to tackle the TBR pile and started A Bollywood Affair. I couldn’t stand the hero at first, but I’m beginning to warm up to him. Mili is a little too manic pixie dream girl for my taste, but, overall, I am enjoying the book.
So the last two weeks I went on a Lynda Aicher binge and read both of her Power Play hockey novels and one of her Bonds of … books that I had somehow overlooked. They were excellent.
Power Play #2 – Back in Play – the one with the painkiller addicted hockey captain – READ IT. If you’re in a slump, read it. I can’t say enough amazing things – totally and completely unique, engrossing, and one of the most emotional books I have ever read. The hero is just – wow. Amazing.
I also one-day-read Liberating Lacey b/c of the rec’s here – it was indeed fabulous. I read another Anne Calhoun, Afternoon Delight, that I liked a lot – but I should have left more time between it and Liberating Lacey, b/c LL was sooo good that I think it was impossible for Afternoon Delight (which was definitely good) to compare.
I’m slightly embarrassed to admit that the cuttlefish reviews caused me to buy a different book by the author, because, curiosity. Truly, hanging head – it was about the length of one chapter, and I paid nearly as much as for an entire novel by Lynda Aicher or Anne Calhoun – sigh.
Also read ML Buchman Nightstalkers – so good, many on hold now.
Oops – people in the household need more attention – not books! Darn!
My TBR pile continues to grow, but I finished “Liar” by Nora Roberts and “Memory Man” by my boyfriend David Baldacci. I’m almost finished “Blood Infernal” by James Rollins and will then head over to “Waiting on You” by Kristan Higgins. Lots of great suggestions to try based on the comments. Yay! Hugs…Ro
@CelineB: I cannot recommend The Bees and Feed enough!
@8 LizzieBee – Lucky’s Lady! I have not read that one in years. I’ve read it about three times in the past but somehow forgot about it. I have the paperback somewhere around here.
Also love Naomi Novik’s Temeraire and have Uprooted on hold at the library. Excited!
I really like Written in Red and the other books – the heroine does not bug me at all, given the backstory. Hope you stick with the series Sarah.
For me, just finished a long Charley Davidson binge after buying the books when they were on sale. Planning to read the new one this weekend. Awesome fun series. It’s had me craving southwestern food like crazy.
Re Anne Bishop, I have read Written In Red, Murder of Crows and Vision in Silver (the first 3 of The Others series), and loved each one. I know what SB Sarah means by Mary Sue, but the heroine does screw up majorly in Vision in Silver :). What interests me about this series is that the shapeshifters in the book consider themselves animals and not humans, and the author portrays them this way as well.
Have read several dog books – Giant George-Life With The World’s Biggest Dog by Dave Nasser – about a really big and sweet Great Dane called George. The other one is Little Boy Blue by Kim Kavin, and is not as happy a book as the George book, as it goes into the animal shelter business in the US in great detail. The details are not always very happy, although in the author’s case she was able to rescue/foster at least 12 dogs.
On the romance front (Anne Bishop’s books are more paranormal than romance IMHO), I read an old school HP by Sara Craven – The Count’s Blackmail Bargain – which isn’t nearly as rapetastic as some of her books are. I thought it was a sweet story. Have also read Silver Thaw by Betty Neels (hero is not as unpleasant as some of hers are), and Taken/Pursuit/Flight by V.M. Black (which I loved). The Black stories are the first 3 of a 7-part series, and you need to read them all, so am waiting for sales :). The first 3 were free one or 2 weeks ago. I also read First to Burn by Anna Richland, which is a terrific book and I am hooked. Reading 2nd book in the series now.
It is taking me forever to finish THE THREE-BODY PROBLEM by Cixin Liu. Probably one of the best books I’ve read, but so dense it’s impossible to skim or read lightly. Plus I have to stop periodically to discuss gravity and motion with the Science Guy. Definitely worth it.
Whee! Thank you to SBSarah and Scribd for vastly improving the quality of my life. And thank you to the person whose comment at Dear Author linked to Scribd’s annual subscription.
I read through Edith Layton’s “C Series” with increasing pleasure. I adore having an entire, excellent, new-to-me series available all at once and look forward to reading her other books.
Then I read Betty Neels’ first book, Sister Peters Goes to Amsterdam, and got a kick out of seeing the origination of the scenes, events and characters which, rearranged, appear in subsequent books.
After reading here that the heroine in SEP’s Nobody’s Baby But Mine made science notes on her infant’s diaper when notepaper was not at hand I read the book and enjoyed it. But … wrong book as far as the note taking on diapers goes.
A Perfect Red, about the discovery and use of red dye, is not holding my attention. It received amazing reviews and has been on my TBR list for years so I am disappointed not to enjoy it more, especially because it is well written, weaving history, politics and early development of commerce. Perhaps the dizzy pleasure of so many historical romances simultaneously at the tip of my fingers is distracting me.
Also in nonfiction, I read Katie Hafner’s A Romance on Three Legs, about Glenn Gould’s passion for a particular piano. It moved along quickly; I was surprised when it finished. That is one weird thing about e-books, never being exactly sure how long they are.
One HQ American Romance was a dud, another HQ by Christine Merrill had a charming premise: the heroine uses a small gun to encourage the hero to ruin her with a kiss in the moonlight; the hero urgently needs a wealthy wife so he goes along. They marry. Oops. Both wrong.
Something About Emmaline begins Elizabeth Boyle’s (another new-to-me author) Bachelor Chronicle series. I enjoyed them all and then read her Rhymes with Love series. Excellent characters and interesting plots.
And then there was Love is a Dog From Hell, a collection of Charles Bukowski’s poems. One of his poems is on my greatest hits list, but the relentless sexuality in this collection was off-putting after a while. In general I prefer poetry anthologies more than reading a single-author collection. Too bad there isn’t a “shuffle” for poetry books as there is for music albums.
My favorite book was one which probably raises the conversation about what is and is not a romance, Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand. It was perfect in every way — so skillfully handled by the author. It had a perfect, happy ending that was not assured early in the story. I have such admiration for way the author put her characters and situations together seamlessly. Really, read it. It is superb.
Into book 3 of the Darynda Jones grim reaper series and enjoying the combination of silly humor interspersed with action and a gamut of emotions. There is something about disguising significant issues under clown masks [figuratively and, at the beginning of book 3, literally] that makes everything just that much easier to deal with. Also reading the fifth book in the glamourist series by Mary Robinette Kowal. I read the first and enjoyed it, but the 5th was the next I could find at the library. Yup. Lots happened that I’ll never know about… Also read my two RITA review books (Katharine Ashe’s “My Lady, My Lord” and Grace Burrowes’ “Honor Reclaimed”), but I’m mulling them over before writing the reviews. Both were worth reading. Also continuing to love Scribd; I am now paying for it and feel it is well worth it! Every time I see a book on sale at the Bitchery, I start at Scribd and can safely say that the savings from my normal one-click-ery pays for the Scribd subscription at least twice over monthly!
I finished Capture by Penny Reid a few days ago and enjoyed it so much that I ended up with a book hangover. I decided to read a Cathy Williams Harlequin because I hadn’t read a Harlequin in a while and hoped that would get me back in the mood to read. Now I have fallen down the Harlequin rabbit whole and am rereading some of my favorites like Sale Or Return Bride by Sarah Morgan and The Greek’s Christmas Baby by Lucy Monroe.
Usually I am more interested in the heroines than the heroes, but Laura Florand’s heroes are the exception. Matthieu from Once Upon A Rose may be my favourite romance hero ever. His adorableness made me feel sunny and happy and grin so much my cheeks hurt. In other respects, I struggled a bit with the story, which had interesting plot elements that seemed to go nowhere. Florand is all about how the emotion of love feels, however, so no book of hers has ever been a loss for me. I also read The Chocolate Touch, which I found much better structured and has both a wonderful hero and a discernible, if a bit coy, plot.
On the downside, Rose Lerner’s True Pretenses is not working well for me. I picked it out because the hero is Jewish and Lerner’s writing is thoughtful and non-cookie-cutter. But I find myself bored, and consequently I am picking apart the plot as ridiculous and not feeling what the characters are feeling. I am also apprehensive about the ending because the signals are that the Jewishness will get packed into a little box and hidden away so that the hero can take his place among Christian gentry, rather than the Christian character deciding to espouse the world of the minority character, or both of them finding a third, inventive solution. I hope I am wrong.
Oops, sorry. Closing the bracket.
I have recently discovered my love of audiobooks and thanks to Scribd, have been indulging that love. In the last month, I’ve listened to:
– The Magicians by Lev Grossman – Quentin is insufferable but the narrator is suitably apathetic so it kinda works. I think reading it would have driven me nuts
– The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins – a different narrator for each POV! And one of the narrators is Molly from BBC’s Sherlock! Just fantastic
– The Deception of the Emerald Ring by Lauren Willig – I really enjoy Kate Reading as a narrator but the story annoyed me. Maybe Book 4 will have less Eloise and Colin?
– The Other Side of Midnight by Simone St. James – I was shocked the audiobook was on Scribd cause it was just published last month, but I was happy! Less creepy than St. James’s other books but still 5 stars from me!
Then from the library, I read:
– Yes, Please by Amy Poehler – I liked it, though it kinda dragged near the end
I’m currently reading:
– Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie (library) – which, eh. Maybe I’m not in the mood? Everything I loved about the first book is just annoying me here
– Driven by Eve Silver (Scribd – for book club) – also kinda eh. The characters fall into immediate lust even though they barely know each other, they’re driving a big rig through a post-apocalyptic wasteland and he may be a robot? Tell me more about all that please! Less, “she couldn’t stop staring at his ripped abs through his shirt…”
Very much *not* a romance but finished Kate Atkinson’s Life after Life for the library book club. I need a break from World War I and II — that was a rough one for me. And partly because I don’t usually read literary much.
I’m finishing Loretta Chase’s Devil’s Delilah for the TBR challenge.
Not sure what’ll come after that. I’m hoping to get the Yen Press reprint of the Emma manga this week — if you like Victorian era period pieces and romances w/ class differences, it’s quite enjoyable and the artist is *so* detailed. Same one that did the Bride’s Story.
This month I finished up the latest in Linda Ladd’s Claire Morgan series. And I figured out that there was a book prior to the start of the series, Running Scared, that has a character overlap. I so wish I had known that to begin with. I hate reading things out of order.
That being said however, it’s not terribly important to read Running Scared before the series, and the style is way different than the Claire Morgan series. Running scared is one story, from strangers to Happily Ever After, whereas Claire Morgan stories are always Happy For Now.
I really enjoyed Running Scared. Having only read her Claire Morgan series, I wasn’t sure what Linda Ladd would do with a standalone romantic suspense, but I think it might have been my favorite of hers so far.
After that I read Sharon Sala’s The Boarding House. NOT A ROMANCE. But really good. Quite hard to read though, trigger warnings for all of the things. ALL of the things.
This starts out during Ellie Wayne’s early childhood (chronicling abuse she suffered at the hands of her father, and neglect at the hands of her mother), and goes through her young life into adulthood. It’s hard to describe this book really without spoiling it so I won’t beyond that. There is no HEA but certainly a satisfactory, non romantic, HFN.
I SO want to read Ellie’s happily ever after. Please, please Sharon, write that story!
I read Mariah Stewart’s Priceless, and then Brown Eyed Girl, both connected on the periphery to her FBI series. Actually, as far as I can tell everything that Mariah Stewart writes happens in the same universe. From her straight romances to her romantic suspense, the Chesapeake Bay series, the Enright series, all of it seems to happen in the same universe.
I really enjoy her writing, whether it’s the straight romance or the suspense, it’s satisfying.
I was so hoping to end my Scribd subscription without paying for it, but then I discovered they had all of the Laura Griffin books.
Damn you, Scribd!
So yeah, Laura Griffin. I’m not entirely sure if her first two books, One Last Breath, and One Wrong Step, fit into the rest of her universe, though they are set in nearby locations. Certainly the Glass Sister books, Thread of Fear, and Whisper of Warning, do have some crossover with her Tracers series, though from what I understand they can all pretty much stand alone.
Laura Griffin’s writing is tight, not terribly gory, but certainly suspenseful. I really like her characters. They’re intelligent but not infallible, they’re pretty well fleshed out. On occasion I’d say that the romance is a bit rushed.
In Thread of Fear the romance happens over like a week, maybe two, but it felt like it should have been longer somehow. Things kept happening, apparently on the same day, that I felt like we’re happening maybe in the same week. So by the end of that book, really only a couple of weeks have passed and it really felt to me like it should have been more time.
I have a tendency to correct that sort of thing mentally, as I go, so I’m not bothered terribly by it. Generally though, I don’t notice that I’m doing it, but here I did. I’m not sure if that’s good, bad, or indifferent. I enjoyed the story.
So I read all of those and am just starting on the first official Tracers novel, Untraceable. I expect to like it and the rest of them. There are ten more so my next Whatcha Reading? post may look very much like this one:-)
-Written in Red made me so mad I returned it halfway through. I was very excited for like the first 10% and then I realized that the author set up a really interesting world and then was like “Just kidding! These things I told you were unearthly and terrifying and completely amoral, actually they’re just dumb stock characters from any Mary Sue paranormal nonsense you’ve ever seen.” Nothing was going to happen, it was just going to be Mary Sue and her office supply scenes. It made me angry. Normally I just quit reading and never think of it again, but this came close enough to all my sweet spots to cause BookRage when it went south. INTENSE FEELINGS PEOPLE, I HAVE THEM.
-Reading “His Wicked Reputation” by Madeline Hunter. Heroine is a poor spinster who’s hoping to scrape together enough money to get her younger sister married off, and a fine artist (painter), hero is a duke’s natural son, semi-acknowledged by his legitimate brothers. It’s quite good! I generally have a very good experience with Hunter’s prose, and here I find the characters quite affecting: the heroine is sexually drawn to and curious about the hero in a way I find believable, while also being believable (to me) in another way: she understands that it’s hard for female ambition and marriage to peacefully coexist. The hero’s journey has more to do with trying to find his place in a world where he is not-quite-a-gentleman, and working out how to not let the bitterness anyone would feel about being a nobleman’s bastard taint his whole life. Recently I’ve been especially drawn to historicals about illegitimate children (the potential for psychodrama is epic!)…
-Per the above, I read “The Bar Sinister” by Sheila Simonson this month, which I both loved and found to be not-really-a-romance, more like a serious work of historical fiction that contained an extremely minor romantic subplot. SO GOOD though. Richard Falk is one of the best heroes ever. So surly and sensitive, I loved him.
-This was a month of a million DNFs, or so it felt. I started “Sweet Release” by Pamela Clare, which is the story of a young woman buying an indentured servant/convict to help work her colonial-Virginia farm. I want to like it. It has a lot of good qualities. My main stumbling block, and why I think I’m going to have to admit that I can’t do this, is that it takes place against a backdrop of slavery. Your heroine “hates slavery”, which, okay, but it’s still set during a time where people – her neighbors! – believe that they can own other people. She herself buys an actual enslaved person in addition to your sexy indentured lead. It’s just too hard to read, because my feeling is that either you can really take seriously the fact that there are slaveholders and slaves in the background, which opens up a lot of really intense, painful, horrifying emotional content. Or you can take the approach (which the book does, more) that is is semi-historical, it acknowledges the evil of slavery in the background, but also lets your white heroes be noble and opposed to slavery while also owning people in semi-noble ways. It’s hard for me to even figure out how to talk about this stuff. I think I just probably can’t read about it. It gives me too many complicated feelings! I think I have to stick with European historicals. Of course in fact a lot of the visible wealth in those is, in reality, driven by the slave trade or made possible by it (wealth related to sugar or tobacco or cotton, or mills that process these things…), but at least there are no scenes with grateful, happy enslaved people. (On the other hand, there are plenty of scenes with happy tenant farmers or laborers or servants or sex workers… which I think in reality was probably also not really so simple. So I don’t know. Overthinking it is my jam though.)
-Speaking of sex workers and the underclasses in general, I’m reading “The Secret History of Georgian London: How the Wages of Sin Shaped the Capital” by Dan Cruickshank. It is giving me complicated unsettled feelings about the depiction of sex workers in historical fiction, which tends to really leave out the ways in which they were maybe not that jolly. Unfortunately, I am a big fan of the type of hero is either dangerous and likes to tomcat around or cheerful and likes to tomcat around, so I’m like – great, who will I read about now?!?
-“The Duke’s Wager” by Edith Layton. I found it both “This is amazing” and “This is deeply upsetting”. I had read later Layton works and found them not-great, but I think this is maybe something earlier, before the publishing industry had overtaken her particular genius. What I found amazing and unsettling is that this book treats the tropes of historical romance heroes as real. You want a cad? This book has cads for real. You want men who keep mistresses? This book talks about the REAL emotional and financial and physical aspects of that, the way women age out of the high-class prostitution into increasingly grimmer sub-industries, the way it is not a harmless activity (I am actually not anti-prostitution at all or anything – it’s just that women generally did not have the power to negotiate situations for themselves that were actually okay and dignified)… phew. Really tough reading! I was very disappointed that the secondary non-romance between one of the male leads and the woman who’s nursed a hopeless love for him for years just evaporates. I very intensely wanted some kind of redemption for the man and the good woman who loved him and had her heart broken by him when she realized how terrible and unethical he was, but I don’t think it happened. (I basically wanted to write fan fiction! Which never happens to me with romances.)
-Veils of Silk by Mary Jo Putney. Set in India. I was very excited because of the great reviews, but almost instantly I started highlighting sections as being extremely tell-don’t-show, totally illogical, just… not-good. (Example: heroine, who is an unmarried woman living in India with her civil-service stepfather, who knows she has no income apart from him and no plan for her future, but definitely does not wish to marry and has one of those Historical Romance Heroine “Independent Lady” personalities, is sort of startled to realize that she is left without an income or a plan for her future when he dies. Also she relies totally and completely on the men around her to take care of her – she isn’t independent at all. So I felt like I just didn’t understand the logic of the world and the characters right off the bat.) Then I realized that I also disliked and DNF, for very similar “wait is everyone just cool with her wearing pants?!?) reasons, a Putney book everyone else loved (“The Rake”) so this is probably just a bad author-reader match. I should learn my lesson. (I also found myself struggling with the problem I often have with historicals written now that deal with issues of colonialism, slavery, etc – the contemporary author naturally sees the concerns with these systems, but then you have to either decide to have leads who have attitudes about these things are are historically-accurate but horrifying to contemporary eyes, or you have to give your leads sort of anachronistic attitudes that tend to feel kind of patronizing. You know, everyone loves India and the wonderful people of India, but there’s still quite a bit of glossing over the fundamental realities of colonial oppression. There are definitely authors who find a third way (Thinking of “Duke of Shadows” by Meredith Duran, if you want an India-set book… or, if you want something about indentured servitude instead of the Clare book, “Reforming Lord Ragsdale” by Carla Kelly, but those books are more centrally about those topics, and someone coming to grips with them, and less “this is the fun backdrop to the sexy romance”) but overall I think I should realize that they don’t work for me, and avoid them.
-I will spare everyone the litany of DNFs and conclude with a re-read of “Flowers from the Storm” by Laura Kinsale. You know something, Laura Kinsale is a bonafide genius. She just is. Man, this is a good book. It’s so great because it is only partially about the sexy romance. It’s also about someone being trapped in their own brain and their own body, it’s about faith, it’s about compassion, it’s about discerning God’s will, it’s about how people can be trapped in their religion. It’s about math – and Kinsale is one of the only authors I’ve read who are able to convey (probably because she herself is an actual genius?) the genius of their characters in a real way. Upside of reading Kinsale: reading Kinsale. Downside: now you will feel angry that other books are not like this!
I had done a lot of re-reading lately because I just couldn’t get into anything.
I also read pretty much everything written by G.A. Aiken/ Shelly Laurenston. They just make me laugh and I needed some at the time. Plus, I just love love her books.
I’ve lost count as to the number of re-reads of these books that I’ve done…. The Last Hour of Gann, yes there are good points and bad points and good lord some f’ing annoying parts, but I still love that book. After that I went through her Lords of Arcadia series, and then I finished Cottonwood yesterday. I think I read The Scholomance in there too somewhere. It was like I finished an R. Lee Smith book, I need some more please and read a few more.
I also read Charlie Davidson 1-6 for the zillionth time. I had been putting off getting 7 because the e-book price has been @ $12.99 practically since it came out while the PB version was like $7. Every give away I found the prize was a physical book or signed copy. I’m blind and as nice as that would be the only good I could do with it is smack someone with it. The same thing happened with 8, bah. I I noticed that the NLS library I use (it’s a library for the blind and has audio books—it is so old that back in the day you could get books on freaking records you) had 1-3 in a bundle then 4-7 and I got excited…. Then I went to listen to 7 and got a sad face. The NLS usually has its own narrators and sometimes publishers donate the commercial audio books. I don’t like the voice of the woman that did the narrating; somehow she turned funny, awesome Charlie into a pretentious sounding ho-bag so I didn’t finish it. She narrated the Gini Koch Kitty series too, but I couldn’t get past the 4th book … maybe it is her voice that ruined it for me? Who knows~
On a side note I was going to check the prices again for the Charlie books and itch some more, but yay 7 was on sale! So I grabbed it and will be reading it when I am finished.
I just finished First of Spring by Kelsey Jordan. It is the 3rd book in the series and I have enjoyed everyone. This one … was mostly a surprise to me. I rather like her take on shape shifters and the whole religion/deities that she created to go with them.
Going to zip it now, or I will ramble on and on.
p.s. I love The Others series by Anne Bishop and had the same fears as Jane when she mentioned it in a pod cast about her screwing it up like she did with the Black Jewels Trilogy … well I guess it is technically a a series. It will forever be a trilogy to me as the other books do not exist. 😛
*shakes fist menacingly* damn you spell check (I won’t mention the fact I was being lazy and not checking what it
Wanted to fix and just hit alt c a lot.)
On a recent trip, m husband and I listened to Johannes Cabal the Necromancer which Elyse had previously recommended. We both enjoyed it.
Most recently finished one of Joanna Wylde’s Saurellian Federation titles (a quartet of novellas) and decided that her writing has come a LONG way in about ten or so years.
Also recently finished and enjoyed Devon Monk’s Infinity Bell and With Every Breath by Elizabeth Camden (I don’t usually read inspirational romances, but I liked this one).
Have been dipping into and enjoying Ella Frances Sanders’ Lost in Translation: An Illustrated Compendium of Untranslatable Words from Around the World. This would take all of thirty minutes to read, so I’m glad I have a copy from the library.
Currently reading and enjoying Asa: A Marked Men Novel by Jay Crownover.
A couple more that I neglected to mention that I enjoyed ~
Mate Bond the most recent book in Jennifer Ashley’s paranormal Shifters Unbound series and a re-read of her historical romance The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie.
And The Button Collector by Elizabeth Jennings. I picked this up because I thought it was one written by Lisa Marie Rice under her EJ pseudonym, but it wasn’t! I enjoyed it nonetheless.
I finished two books last week. I’m cautiously optimistic that my reading slump may be ending. 😀
Neither of was romance, but I’d recommend both.
The first was “The Three Body Problem”, by Cixan Liu. This is the most different SF novel I’ve read in a long time, plus its good.
The second was “The Martian”, by Andy Weir. This was a good, tense read, even when it was obvious the current crisis wasn’t going to be fatal. (Unless the end of the book was just eulogies.)
I just started “Babel-17”, by Samuel R. Delany. I’m enjoying it so far, but I’m only 25% of the way through. It has some issues that, I assume, are a product of its time (1966).
Hmm… just noticed it looks like I’ve been on a SF kick lately. Actually, just a coincidence. 3BP was due back at the library, I wanted to finish TM before today, and Delany seemed like the best way to kick off a summer of reading books not by straight, white, cis males. (Also to make some inroads into the mass of unread books on my kindle.)
@Vasha – oh yes, I agree about The Shameless Hour. I enjoyed it, but not as much as her previous Ivy Years books. It wasn’t as bad as say SEP, but I don’t get this tendency to knock down sexually confident heroines before they get their hea.
I was sick with the flu for a big chunk of May, which was miserable, but at least I read down my tbr pile. I read Here Kitty, Kitty by Shelly Laurensten, which was just about perfect for my convalesce. And I read Black John, the latest in Amy Lane’s Johnnies series. I’m in the middle of an author breakup with Ms Lane, but I wanted to finish the Johnnies series and I’m glad I did. I’d say it’s kind of medium level angst by Amy Lane standards (which is very angsty by most other standards).
I read several NA (a genre I am warning up to). Besides The Shamless Hour by Sarina Bowen, I read Treasure by Rebekah Weatherspoon, which is a really sweet ff. And I read Carry the Ocean by Heidi Cullinan, mm with an autistic hero. I enjoyed it, although I wasn’t that invested in the romance, I enjoyed the coming of age arcs for both heroes.
And I read my first Pratchett – Going Postal – and I really enjoyed it.
I’m currently 320+ pages into Voyager, by Diana Gabaldon. This might be my favorite in the series thus far. I’ll be taking a break from the Outlander books (until early 2016) after this, though. There’s other titles on my TBR list that I really need to tackle.